Erica Eden and Agnete Enga of Smart Designs’ Femme Den joined Linda Tischler from Fast Company to present a session titled Design and Gender: Thinking About Sex, at the 2009 CES in Las Vegas Friday. The session explored gender-based physical and psychological differences and the effects those differences have on the way that the genders interact with and value products. Information was from Eden and Enga’s groundbreaking research on gender and design.
In the low-tech hunter-gatherer world, men were the hunters and women the gatherers. It should come as no surprise then that women buy or influence 80% of all purchases made for goods and services in today’s world. The fact that women represent the planet’s third largest economy has been largely overlooked by electronics product and design developers.
The Femme Den was founded by four women at Smart Design. They are Erica Eden (American), Agnete Enga (Norwegian), Yvonne Lin (Chinese-American), and Gina Reimann (British). Their goal is to draw connections between social, cultural and economic changes in design to satisfy the unmet needs of female consumers. The femmes want to see a more comprehensive approach than the "shrink it and pink it" that most manufacturers use, saying that women want more than color and finish--in fact, women generally find this ‘special group’ treatment offensive.
While that may be generally true, some women might take another approach and capitalize on cultural rhetoric as shown in the video above. It makes me think that feminist marketing may be forever doomed.
Marketing Tech to Females
How Product Developers Can Please a Woman (CES 2009)
Trend Themes
1. Gender-based Product Design - Designing products based on gender-specific physical and psychological differences can lead to more satisfied customers and increased sales.
2. Femtech - The development of technology specifically tailored to women's needs presents a huge opportunity for innovation and profit in the technology industry.
3. Inclusive Marketing - More inclusive marketing campaigns that move beyond simplistic gender stereotypes and empower women can lead to stronger brand loyalty among female consumers.
Industry Implications
1. Consumer Electronics - The consumer electronics industry has largely overlooked the needs and preferences of women, presenting a significant opportunity for gender-inclusive product design and marketing.
2. Product Design - Product design firms that prioritize research on gender preferences and use that data to create products that meet the needs of diverse customer groups can gain a competitive edge.
3. Marketing - Marketing campaigns that effectively target female consumers can create a loyal customer base and increase sales across a wide range of industries.